“It is a good, singular hadith.” Ibn Ḥibbān also authenticated it (1850).

I say: There is weakness in its chain, as I explained in Takhrīj al-Mishkāh (5144).

The second is from Abū Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, in one of his hadiths, with the wording: “On that day, one who holds fast to his religion will be like one grasping a burning ember.” It was narrated by Aḥmad (5/390–391), Abū ʿAmr ibn Mandah in his Aḥādīth (fol. 18/2), and Ibn ʿAsākir in The History of Damascus (19/252/2), through several routes from Ibn Lahīʿah, from Abū Yūnus, from him.

I say: Its chain is satisfactory for corroborative purposes. Its narrators are trustworthy apart from Ibn Lahīʿah, for he had poor retention.

The third is from Ibn Masʿūd, attributed to the Prophet, with the wording: “A time will come upon people when one who holds fast to my sunnah amid the disagreement of my community will be like one grasping a burning ember.” It was narrated by Abū Bakr al-Kalābādhī in The Key to Meanings (fol. 188/2) and al-Ḍiyāʾ al-Maqdisī in Selections from His Auditions in Marw (99/1), through two routes from Ḥumayd ibn ʿAlī al-Bukhtarī, who narrated to us: